Nothing Lasts Forever
by Alex35014
Summary: After another fight, Rosalina has broken Nat's heart. Even worse, they have to spend time together, being on tour together for four months. On a tour filled with drama, surprises, and of course attempts at romance, will Rosalina be able to mend Nat's heart, or is this the end of Natalina for good?
1. What have I done?

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own the NBB. **

**Now that that's out of the way, on with the story.**

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Why did I do this? Why did it seem like all we could do was fight? I wanted to hug him, to tell him how much I love him, and how I've loved him since Chicago, when I kissed him on the cheek. Forget Chicago, I wanted to kiss him right now, and pretend the whole fight never happened. Is any of that what happened?

"I hate you Nat Wolff!"

Need I say more? I don't even remember what we were fighting about anymore. It must have been that stupid if I didn't remember what it was while we were still fighting. Nat looked really hurt by what I said. He went really quiet, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You...you don't mean that. All the times we've fought, you've never said that."

No, I don't mean it, Nat! I love you!

"Yes, Nat, I do mean it! Ever since I came back to this band, you've done nothing but criticize me and take Kristina's side on everything! Well I'm done with it! I'll go on this tour, but don't bother talking to me." I could tell that I really hurt Nat, but it did feel good to get some of my frustration towards him out in the open. Why didn't I just talk to him, instead of yelling? That's a really good question. One that I didn't think about until after I yelled at him. He looked at the ground and my heart broke, knowing how badly I had hurt him.

"Ok. If that's what you want, Rosalina, then I won't say a word to you. I'm sorry if I've really caused you that much frustration." He turned to the guys. "I…I think I'm gonna crash a little early tonight, guys. It's been a long day. Good night." He said, and I could tell he was trying not to cry until he got to his room. I was trying to do the same thing, but unlike him, I had no excuse to leave. Everyone muttered good night, and he went to his room. Cooper called after him.

"Nat, don't forget that we're loading the bus at 7 tomorrow morning! Bus pulls out at 8!" Nat just waved a hand showing he remembered. When he was out of sight, I stared at the ground, I couldn't look anyone in the eye, knowing that if I did, I would see the icy stares that I felt on me, and the tears would leak. I had blown it, now. Nat would never forgive me for this. I knew he meant what he said. He wasn't going to say anything to me while we were on this tour. He thought that was what I actually wanted. I glanced up, and saw Thomas, Qaasim, David, and Alex "icing me out" as they called it. Cooper was giving me a sympathetic look. Kristina was staring at the floor.

"I'd better get home. My dad will be wondering where I am." I said. Nobody said anything, so I left the Wolff apartment. I had gotten to the street without tears, but once I was outside, I couldn't control them anymore. I sat down on the steps, brought my knees to my chest, wrapped my arms around them, put my head on my knees, and sobbed. What had I done? I told the only person I had ever truly loved that I hated him, that I didn't want him to say a word to me. I wanted so badly to fix this, but I knew that it would be nearly impossible to fix. I heard the door open, but I didn't look. I didn't want to face anyone right now. Whoever it was sat next to me.

"Come to tell me how awful of a person I am? Cause I don't need that right now. I know that I was horrible to Nat. I know he didn't deserve any of what I said. I don't even know why I said it. I was just so caught up in the moment, we were yelling at each other, and it just all came out."

"No, I came out because I figured you needed someone to talk to. You blame me for all this, don't you?" Kristina asked me. I looked at her, my face tear covered.

"No. At first I did, but I know that I made the mistake of quitting the band. They needed a bassist. I was selfish to think that I would come back and everything would just go back to the way it was. And let's be honest, you didn't make it easy for me to like you when I first came back."

"I know, and I'm sorry for that. I was just mad. Nat went through all that effort to find a bassist, and I was so happy that I was picked. Then you came running back and he let you back in like it's nothing. Nat handled the whole thing really well, but I hated that he let you back in."

"That's fair enough." It was all I could say.

"He really loves you, you know?"

"Not after tonight, he doesn't. He won't even speak to me after tonight."

"Exactly, and that's how I know he loves you. He loves you enough that he's willing to not talk to you, just to keep peace. I could see how hurt he was by what you said."

"I could, too. I don't know what to do Kristina. I want to make this up to him, but I know I can't."

"You never know. We're going on tour. We'll be traveling for four months. Most of that will be spent on the road or in a hotel. Anything can happen."

"I don't know, Kristina. I really messed up. Even if things do work out, do I even deserve it?" The door opened again.

"Hey, are you gonna sit there all night, or are you gonna go home like you said? Haven't you done enough tonight, without hanging around and torturing Nat by staying where he can see you?" Alex asked. I broke down again. Of all the members of the band, the last person I expected to talk to me like this, besides Nat, was Alex. He sat down.

"Just go back inside, Alex. I don't need this right now."

"And you think Nat needed any of what you said? My question is why did you say it? I know you didn't mean it."

"I don't know, Alex, but at this point it doesn't really matter. Nat hates me, and…"

"Hold the phone! Nat doesn't hate you. He's just hurt by what you said."

"Even if Nat doesn't hate me, you guys do. I could tell by the looks you all were giving me."

"I could never hate you, Rosalina. I'm just mad that you hurt Nat. You're like a big sister to me." He pulled me into a hug and I hugged him back.

"Thanks, Alex. But how do I make this up to Nat? I love him so much."

"Well, we have four months of touring to figure something out. We'll make it work. I'll try and put some plans together tonight, and we can talk about them when the bus gets rolling tomorrow morning." For the first time since the fight with Nat, I smiled.

"Thanks, Alex." I said, giving him a quick kiss on the top of his head. Kristina put her hands on both of our backs.

"Make sure you include me, Alex. If I can help in any way, I want to." Alex nodded. And so the team was formed.

Our bond: the bond of friendship, almost family.

Our goal: get me back in Nat's good graces, and maybe back to where we could date again.

Our time limit: four months

The clock would start ticking tomorrow morning, at 8.


	2. We are rolling!

I woke to my alarm going off at 5:30. Why was my alarm going off at 5:30? I hit the snooze button and went back to sleep. The next time I woke up, it was to my dad shaking me.

"Rosalina, it is 6:15. You need to get moving. You need to be at the tour bus in 45 minutes." I nearly jumped out of bed. How could I have forgotten that we left for the tour today? I grabbed a quick shower, picked out an NBB t-shirt and my jeans, finished getting dressed, tossed my bags into the trunk of my dad's car, and we went to the studio where the bus would be waiting. Even with all of my rush, we still got there 15 minutes late. I jumped out of the car and saw Cooper coming over.

"Sorry I'm late, Cooper! Totally overslept."

He shook his head. "Well, at least you're here. Thomas and David thought you might not come after that incident with Nat last night."

"I said I was coming. Just because Nat and I had a little argument doesn't change that I'm part of the band, unless Nat told any of you guys something he didn't tell me."

"He didn't tell us anything. In fact he hasn't said a word about it since it happened."

"That's not uncommon of Nat. We've seen how he holds stuff in. He'll come to you eventually, Cooper."

"Be that as it may, you better get your bags to the bus, so Tuffy can get them loaded. That way you can get your bunk set up on the bus and say goodbye to your dad before we leave."

With a little help from my dad, we got the bags where they needed to go. He had to get to work, so I gave him a quick hug. He told me he loved me, to be safe, have fun, and to try and make amends with Nat. Yes, I actually told my dad about the fight. It was hard not to when I came in with red, puffy eyes and tears dried on my face. I told him I would. He kissed me on the head and I kissed him on the cheek. As I climbed onto the bus, I turned and waved to him again. This was a lot smoother than the last time I had to say bye to my dad before a tour, but then again me and my dad also had a better relationship than last time. He actually started making time for me, instead of finding time when it was convenient for him.

I went on to the bus, and was greeted with silence. I didn't see Kristina or Alex, and I knew Cooper was still off the bus saying goodbye to Patty. That left Thomas, David, Qaasim, and Nat. Thomas, David, and Qaasim just glared at me, and Nat didn't even look up. I said hi to everyone. I quickly went back to my bunk. I didn't want to stand out here longer than necessary. I had just finished putting all my sheets on the bed when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I almost hoped it was Nat. Needless to say, I was slightly disappointed when it was Kristina.

"Not who you were expecting?" She asked with a smile.

"I was kind of hoping it was…I was just being stupid. I should have known it wouldn't be him."

"Give it time, Rosie." Kristina was the only one who actually called me Rosie. When we had been dating, I asked Nat why he didn't. He said that Rosalina was too beautiful of a name to be shortened to something like Rosie.

"I guess. Where's Alex?" I asked, and a head popped out from the bunk above mine.

"Right here." He said, making me jump. I hadn't expected him to be there. "Scared you, didn't I?"

"A little bit. But that isn't your bunk. What are you doing on…an empty bunk?" I realized that nobody had ever taken the bunk above me.

"Well, it was empty, but now it's occupied. Kristina let me borrow it to scare you." He said. I turned to Kristina.

"You let him scare me? And you're bunking above me?"

"Well, that was the plan…unless you don't want me to, of course."

"No, that's great!" I said. I wanted to make an effort to be nice, especially after how mean I had been to her. I then looked back to Alex. "So did you have any brilliant ideas about helping me unbreak Nat's heart?"

"I always have brilliant ideas. There are days I don't even know how all the brilliant ideas stay in there."

"Well, how about we talk about these ideas of yours." I said, taking a seat on my bunk. Kristina climbed onto her bunk, and Alex took a seat on the floor.

"Ok, first off, I thought of a name for our operation."

"Does it really need a name?" I asked. He nodded.

"Every successful mission needs a name. So I thought that ours could be Operation Mojo 2.0!" He said. He was clearly really proud of that name.

"Alex, that would be great, but she doesn't really need her mojo back, like Nat did." I guessed that she had watched that documentary. I laughed the whole time, watching how much Alex went through to try and help Nat, and how badly Nat failed at it. I also found it really sweet that even when he was supposed to be getting away from everything, especially me, he brought his favorite picture of us. "What she needs is to mend Nat's broken heart."

"Well, whatever we decide to call it," I started, "let's work out some of the details of what we're actually going to do."

"Right, so my first idea is that at our first stop, we need to rent a plane! Now hang on, I know you just completely thought I was crazy, but hear me out. We have the pilot go into the sky and write 'I'm sorry Nat. I love you –Rosalina' Then we make sure Nat sees it, and bam! Instant forgiveness." I really didn't know how to react to this. He seemed so sincere about it. Luckily I was saved having to answer when Cooper came back and told us to come up front for a quick band meeting.

We all got up front and sat down. I sat next to Nat, the only available seat.

"Hi." I said. I gave me a quick glance, nodded his head, but didn't say anything. "Nat…"

"Ok guys, quiet down for a few! I have a couple of things I want to go over. Now, as you know, we're going to be on tour for the next four months. We're going to be stopping at cities all over the country. Now, we'll have a few days in each city to do some sightseeing. You guys are not to go anywhere unless you tell me, Jesse, or Tuffy where you're going and when you plan to be back. You will go nowhere alone. You also will not go anywhere without an approved disguise that I'll have in my room, and give to you once you have approval of where you want to go. Am I clear?" Cooper said. We all nodded our heads.

"Do we have a set list for the tour, or are we going to change it up for each city?" Nat asked.

"I'm still working on the set list. We want to try and keep it the same for the tour, so that we don't have to deal with fans complaining that one city got a better show than another. As soon as I have the set list, I'll give it to you guys. Any other questions?" Nobody said anything. "Ok, then you guys have time to do whatever you want, cause we are rolling!" He said as the bus started rolling. We all cheered. I looked back to Nat and tried to say something, but he got up and went back towards the back of the bus, I assumed to his bunk. Alex and Kristina came over.

"Alex, I came up with a name for the operation." Kristina said.

"Better than Operation Mojo 2.0?" He asked skeptically.

"Not by much, but I think it's more appropriate for what we want to accomplish. How about Operation Heartmend?"

"I like it! What do you think Rosalina?"

"I think it's good.

The clock had started. Time was now our enemy. Four months. One mission. No official plans as of yet, but that we could work on. However, even without plans, I had to start working ASAP.

Operation Heartmend was a go.

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**Ok, kind of a lame chapter, I know, but there wasn't a lot that could be done. It'll get better from here, I promise.**


	3. A New Strategy

That night, I lay on my bunk, unable to sleep. I had my earbuds in, and my iPod blasting Alex's song 'Why'. Even though it was written due to his Santa Claus comment, I felt like it applied to me now, too. A few stupid comments and my world was collapsing around me. Finally, I couldn't take just laying there anymore. I got up, turned off my iPod, and walked out towards the front of the bus. I was surprised to find that I wasn't alone. I saw Nat sitting, his head in his hands.

"Hey Nat." I said quietly. He still jumped. He looked up at me, gave a slight head nod of recognition, and put his head back in his hands. I sat down next to him.

"Nat, please talk to me. I know I said some awful things to you, but I was just mad. You should know that I don't want you to not talk to me at all for this tour." He just shook his head. He picked up a notebook and pencil and wrote something down. He ripped the paper out, handed it to me, and walked back to the back of the bus again. I looked at the paper.

_This is what you wanted_

I couldn't believe it. Even after apologizing to him, he still acted like he really thought that this was what I wanted. I noticed someone else walking in. It was Qaasim.

"Hey Rosalina."

"You're actually talking to me? I thought you, Thomas, and David were icing me out."

"And why would you think that I would participate in that when they aren't around?"

"Cause it seems like you all share one brain, at times. Whatever one of you thinks, you all think."

"I know, but right now Thomas and David are really mad. They think you were unfair to Nat. They're giving Alex a lot of heck for talking to you."

"And what do you think?"

"I think that you were unfair, but you were just letting out what you had been holding in, and I can respect that."

"Thanks, Qaasim. I just wish I could get Nat to understand. I just tried talking to him. Not only did I keep getting the silent treatment, he wrote this." I said, showing him the note. He shook his head.

"He doesn't know what to think, right now, Rosalina. He knows you better than probably any of us, so to hear you say those things…he's confused. He needs time."

"I know. But I can't help but think that if I do something spectacular, I might be able to win him back."

"And that might just work. Nat doesn't have to be the only romantic one in your relationship."

"Or the one that used to be. I doubt he even still feels any of that for me anymore."

"Oh, he does. If you need evidence, just read his note. Well, I'm gonna try and get some sleep. Goodnight Rosalina."

"Night Qaasim. And thanks for the talk."

"Any time." He said, and went back to his bunk. I sat there for a few more minutes and then went back to bed as well. The next day was spent on the bus, heading for our first stop, Cleveland. Thomas was happier, being we were going to the city where he was loved first. Qaasim and David were playing a game of chess, and it was actually pretty well matched. Thomas was raiding the fridge, as usual. Alex and Kristina were playing some videogame. I wasn't sure what it was, but it looked like one of the 'Halo' games. Nat was writing in his notebook again. Probably writing a song or something. Cooper was on the phone with someone, it was anybody's guess who. I went over and sat with Alex and Kristina.

"No fair! How did you do that? I had you right where I wanted you!" Alex yelled. Kristina and I both laughed.

"Dude, I'm from the Bronx. You think that I grew up without playing videogames and learning a few things about trapping a trapper?"

"But the plan was perfect! There was no way you should have been able to escape that!"

"You just need to learn how to play, that's all."

"Hmph. You up for a round, Rosalina?"

"Sure, why not." I said, taking the controller from Kristina. Alex started a new map. I started just running around the entire map. Alex gave me glances like I was crazy, but Kristina kept nodding her head, and I knew that we were thinking the same thing. When on a map you don't know, take time to get to know it. Having some knowledge of the map could be the difference between winning and losing. While I kept running around in the game, my mind started making connections between the game and real life.

This whole situation with Nat was a new map. Unfortunately, Nat was the enemy that was hunting me on this map, even if it was just because of him being hurt by what I said. My weapon to try and overcome Nat's heartbreak was the fact that I really did love him. That was a good weapon, but I needed a stronger weapon than that. In this game, it would be like having an assault rifle. It was effective, but if you could find a better weapon, you use that better weapon. The only way to win the map was to find a way to unbreak Nat's heart. The only other option was to fail and lose Nat forever, which in the video game would be the equivalent of Alex beating me.

About 45 minutes later, I stood at the top of a cliff. I saw Alex running down below. I had just recently acquired a rocket launcher. I took aim and fired. Direct hit. Game over.

"No fair! There is no way that you could have beaten me! You're one of the most inexperienced players on this bus!"

"But she did the smart thing, Alex. She took time to learn her way around the map. While you were wasting time trying to find Rosie, she was wandering around the map, learning the terrain. She even found some good weapons while you just wanted to kill her quickly."

"She cheated." Alex said, but he still gave me a hug. I laughed. He was definitely growing up, but like all of us, he was still a little kid at heart. I looked around at the rest of the band, who had all sat around to watch the match. Some of them actually looked impressed. Others looked disappointed that Alex had lost. Either way, it was fine. I was proud, and found a new strategy for going about Operation Heartmend. I was trying to take Alex's approach. Move fast, kill quickly. End the game before the opponent has a chance to even try. I needed to slow down, study the field, and try to learn where there might be good chances to make moves. I smiled. It wasn't much of a plan, but at least it was a start.

The bus pulled up to the hotel we were staying in. Everyone got off and went inside. I was the last one off. For everyone else, the fans had cheered and yelled. Thomas had gotten a deafening cheer and a marching band playing 'Boys Rule, Girls Drool', or vice versa, being he has sung it both ways. When I stepped off the bus, the fans went silent. There was no way that they could have known about the most recent argument between Nat and me. This was for all that I had done to him since the start of production on the Top Secret Naked Brothers Band Musical Mystery Movie. Tuffy helped me through the crowd, though it wasn't because of adoring fans trying to get at me. It was because of angry fans that kept bumping me, pushing me, trying to trip me, and calling me all sorts of awful names.

I had a plan.

I was ready to fight for Nat.

But I had to deal with fans, still, too. We were on tour. They hated me, and Nat, the most important person in the world to me, wasn't speaking to me

I had never felt so alone.


	4. Hated by Everyone

I heard the knock at my door, but didn't answer. I really didn't want anyone to see me like this. I hadn't been able to stop crying since I got into my room after dinner. I had held myself together until then because I had to, but now I just let all the pain out. The fans hated me, Thomas and David were mad at me, Nat wasn't talking to me. It seemed like everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. Another knock.

"Rosalina, open up. I need to go over the set list with you." Cooper said. I knew I should answer, but I needed a few minutes to make sure that I had cleaned myself up. Unfortunately, I had barely sat up before the door opened. Kristina had come in and let Cooper in.

"Rosalina, why were you…oh, sorry." Kristina said, seeing me.

"I can come back in a little bit, if that would be better." Cooper said. I shook my head.

"Don't worry about it, Coop. So what's the set list going to be?" I asked as I wiped my face with my sleeve. Unladylike, I know, but give a girl a break.

"Ok, so the set is going to be Curious, Mystery Girl, Face in the Hall, Sometimes I'll Be There, Three is Enough, Crazy Car, Girl of My Dreams, Why, and Your Smile. Any problems with that?"

"I don't, but don't you think Nat will? We both know he sings with his mood. Well, with how things are with us right now, do you think he'll be able to do the songs like Girl of My Dreams or Your Smile?"

"He'll have to; he's already said that this set works for him." I nodded. "Now that we've got the business out of the way, I can be your friend. Are you ok, Rosalina?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Coop."

"You didn't look fine when I walked in."

"I know. I'm just struggling a little. It's weird, being on tour and having the fans and half the band hate you."

"Nobody hates you, Rosalina."

"Really? Cause those fans were sure doing everything they could to try and hurt me. And the names…I've never even heard some of them before."

"Well, the fans aren't thrilled with everything that's happened with you and Nat, but that will pass."

"And what about Thomas and David? They're still icing me out about the fight with Nat. Qaasim is caught in the middle, where he wants to be friends with me, but he also wants to follow Thomas and David, so most of the time, I have him icing me out. Nat isn't talking to me, because I told him not to…Coop, did I really make the right decision coming on this tour?"

"Of course you did! We need you here. You're the second most organized person here, second only to me. You just need to give it time. Everybody will come around. As for the fans, I'm sure once you get out there and play, it'll all ease over."

"I hope you're right, Coop."

"Alright, well I've got to go tell the guys about the set list. Last time I tried, I couldn't get a word in edgewise because I came in in the middle of a burping contest." Cooper said with a laugh. I rolled my eyes.

"Such boys." I said, and Kristina laughed.

"But they're our boys."

"True enough." I said, laying back on the bed.

Unfortunately, Cooper turned out to be wrong. Two days after he told me the set list, we performed. When we got on the stage, everyone cheered and was happy. Then the band got introduced individually. When my name was called, the audience all booed, and someone actually threw a tomato at me, hitting me square in the face. I put the guitar down and ran off stage crying. Everyone in the band watched me go, but nobody could really do anything, because they still had to play. I sat in my dressing room, with the door locked, and listened to the performance, after cleaning the tomato off my face, of course. There was still a little bit of red on it, but I would be able to get that off with a good shower after the concert. They sounded great. I picked up the spare guitar that was sitting in the room and strummed along.

During the last song, Your Smile, there was a pounding on my door. I jumped. Who would be knocking on my door during the concert? I decided to ignore it and kept playing. Whoever it was pounded again. I still ignored it. The third time, I couldn't ignore it anymore. Well, it may have also helped that they actually knocked my door down. The door hit the ground, and I saw a girl walk in.

"Hey." I said, trying to remain calm.

"Don't 'hey' me. You don't even deserve to be in the band after cheating on Nat, let alone having the right to say 'hey' to a fan."

"Look, I know I made mistakes. But Nat and I are working on it. We aren't perfect yet, not by a long shot, but..."

"Oh just shut up! Nobody wants to hear it from you anymore. Now, you're going to come with me. I have some friends who want to give you exactly what you deserve for all the pain you caused Nat."

"What makes you so sure that I'll come? What's stopping me from sitting right here until the band gets off stage and gets you escorted out of here?" I asked. She walked over grabbed my wrist, and twisted my arm around so it went behind my back. I collapsed to the ground in pain.

"You're going to come because I can do a lot worse than this, believe me. Now are you going to come quietly, or do you need another demonstration?"

"I'll come quietly." I said, trying to listen to where the band was in the song. Nat was just going into the chorus for the last time. Even at that, I wouldn't be able to hold off long enough for them to get back here to help me. She let go of my arm, and I stood up. I tried to walk slowly towards the door, but the girl must have been really impatient, because she pushed me, causing me to stumble. The message was clear, however. Move faster. I heard Nat saying goodnight to the audience. Maybe, just maybe, they would get here in time. We got out into the hall, and were nearly out of sight of the dressing rooms when the band came back. They must have all run, coming to check on me. Kristina was the first one to see me.

"Hey, Rosalina! Where are you going? And who is that?" Before I could even get a chance to answer, I felt the same pain that I had felt in the dressing room as the girl twisted my arm behind my back again.

"None of your business who I am. I'm just taking Rosalina to see some friends of mine who want to give her what she deserves." Kristina started walking towards us.

"Let her go!"

"I don't think I will, actually." Before she could say another word, the entire band charged her. She kept a hold of me, but started to run. Luckily for me, she ran straight into Tuffy.

"I don't think so." He said, easily freeing me from her grasp. He held the girl up against the wall with the other hand, and he gave me a light push towards the band. I ran to them as fast as I could. I could tell that Thomas and David hadn't changed their attitudes towards me, but they also were willing to put it aside considering what had just happened. They all surrounded me, and hugged me as I cried, while also forming a protective circle around me. Even Nat had a hand on my shoulder, comforting me.

"You'll pay, Rosalina Tai! You'll pay!" The girl yelled as she was being dragged away.

The scariest part was that I didn't doubt it. I knew that she hadn't been working alone.

We all met in Cooper and Qaasim's room. I was curled into a ball on one section of the couch, with Kristina and Alex next to me, hugging me, and telling me that it would all be ok. Everyone else was silent. Nat was writing in his notebook again. What did he keep writing? Tuffy came in, and Cooper stood up to talk.

"Ok guys, with the attempted kidnapping of Rosalina tonight, I don't want anyone to leave this room. We'll all be sleeping in here tonight, and tomorrow we load up and leave bright and early."

"Cooper, we don't need to make special arrangements just for me. I'll be fine." I said. Everyone started saying things about how this was necessary, and how they didn't want anything to happen, so on and so forth.

"This is just a safety precaution, Rosalina." He turned to Tuffy. "Find out anything useful?"

"Just that we need to keep an eye on everyone. The police found a list in her back pocket. Apparently it was the order that her and her friends are planning on getting the band to try and make Rosalina pay." He said, handing Cooper the list. We all got up and huddled around to see it. My heart jumped into my throat. These people were pros. They knew exactly how to get to me.

My name was first on the list.

Next was Alex.


	5. Girls' Day Out

Two weeks into the tour, and we had already played at seven cities. I've also had that many tomatoes thrown at me. I'm getting used to the red tint on my face. After the second tomato, I learned to keep a rag on stage with me, so I wouldn't have to keep running off. I decided to show the fans that they couldn't keep me down just by chucking stuff at me. Besides, being on stage was the one time I was free. When we were at a hotel, I was on hotel lock down, as was Alex. We spent a lot of time in his room playing videogames, while the rest of the band went out and saw the sights of the cities. They brought back tons of pictures, to try and make us feel like we had been there, too, but it just wasn't the same.

That night, when the band came back, I pulled Cooper aside.

"Coop, this can't keep happening. Alex and I are going crazy being on hotel lock down. You've got to let us leave the hotel and start seeing stuff for ourselves."

"But you two are the ones in the most danger at the moment. I'm sorry, Rosalina, but we can't take any chances."

"Come on, Cooper. You have to at least let me out for a bit at our next stop. We're stopping in Bloomington! You know what's in Bloomington!"

"Our concert?"

"The Mall of America! That would be the perfect opportunity for Kristina and me to have some girl time. You and I both know we need that girl time."

"I agree, but do you really think it's necessary to have that girl time while putting yourself at risk?"

"Cooper, do you realize how many people are in the Mall of America daily? It'd be nearly impossible to make a target out of any one specific person. Besides, I'd be with Kristina. If I'm safe with anyone, it's her." Cooper took a moment to think. I crossed my fingers.

"Fine, I'll let you go to the mall with Kristina. On two conditions."

"What conditions?" I knew it was coming, so I really didn't let two conditions phase me.

"One, that you stay within arms' reach of Kristina at all times. And two, that you call me every hour on the hour so that I know you're still safe."

"Is it really necessary to call every hour?"

"Want me to make it every half an hour?"

"No, every hour sounds good."

"I thought so. Now go tell Kristina about the arrangement."

"Will do. And Coop, could you maybe find a way to let Alex out of the hotel, too? He'll get mad and go crazy if he finds out I'm getting out and he doesn't."

"I'll see what I can work out."

"Thanks, Coop. You're the best."

"Tell me something I don't know." We both laughed at that, and I went to tell Kristina. She was as excited as I was that we were able to go the THE mall. She pulled out her laptop and we started making our plan. What stores we HAD to stop in, what our allowances were for certain stores, where there was food if we got hungry, and quickest ways to get everywhere. I occasionally looked up at Nat. He was writing in that notebook again. In fact, I realized that I hadn't seen him without it since the tour began. At this point, I could tell he wasn't writing songs. We'd have heard something of at least one by now. What was he writing!?

"Earth to Rosie, Earth to Rosie." I heard Kristina say, pulling me back to our plans for the mall.

"Sorry, Kristina. Zoned out for a second."

"Zoned out, or got lost thinking about a certain boy?"

"Shut up."

"There's no shame in admitting you still are in love with him."

"But I can't be, Kristina. Things are…weird between us right now. I haven't even had a lot of chances to talk to him because of this stupid hotel lock down I've been on. And any time that I do try to talk to him, I either get a written response, or he just gets up and leaves."

"Well, at least he writes responses. That's a start. It's not a perfect conversation, but at least it's some form of conversation."

"I guess so. It's just so frustrating." I said, resting my head on my hands. She wrapped her arms around me, giving me a hug.

"Just be patient, girl. He'll come around. He has to see how sorry you are about everything."

"I guess so." I said, and we went back to our planning. A few days later, we pulled into Bloomington. It's was nine in the morning. Cooper told the band that they had free time until four, when we had to be back for rehearsal. It turned out that Cooper had found an amusement park that he gave Nat, Alex, Thomas, David, and Qaasim permission to go to. Alex had the same conditions I had. Arms' length from a band member at all times, and hourly check ins. They headed out, and Kristina and I headed for the mall. There was so much to take in, I didn't know how we would manage it in the time that we had. We went from store to store, checking everything out. By the time we stopped for lunch at one, we already had seven bags each.

"I'm really glad you got us this girls' day out, Rosie. It's been really cool getting to hang out with you."

"Same with you. You know, when I first rejoined the band, I didn't think you'd actually be this cool?"

"Why, cause I was a tough girl from the Bronx?"

"Actually, it was mostly cause I was jealous. I came back and it seemed like you were trying to move in on my man."

"At the time, I was. It happens, especially around the 'Girl Magnet'." We both laughed. Nobody really remembered how Nat got the name Girl Magnet, but at some point when he was nine, people started calling him that, and it just kind of stuck.

"I know. And that's what worries me. He can have any girl he wants, why should he keep waiting for me? All I've done is make mistakes."

"Will you chill, girl? You remember that concert in Chicago? The one where you, Nat, Alex, and the other kid first performed as The Naked Brothers Band?"

"How could I forget? That was an awesome night. And the other kid was Cole. Shame he had to go do TV stuff. He'd have been fun to have around, and he probably would know how best to help Nat and I right about now."

"You don't need help, that's my point! That night, you kissed him on the cheek, and he sang Rosalina. Just from watching that one concert, I could see there was a romance between you two. You're only problem is that you both need to stop being so stubborn. He needs to stop overreacting to the little things, like when he got upset about how your postcards were having less Xs."

"Yeah, that was kind of stupid, but I also could have found another pen. I should have known Nat would have a bad reaction to that."

"And there's your problem. You're constantly willing to put the blame on yourself, but when Nat blames you, you get mad at him. He's more confused than Ron was trying to figure out girls."

"Actually, I think Ron was more confused. He did have the emotional range of a teaspoon. At least Nat's better than that."

"But the point is, he thinks you're ok taking more of the blame, even if he knows he has to take some of it, but when he tries to put some of the blame on you, you get mad. The last time, you quit the band."

"I know I've made mistakes, Kristina, which is why I'm in the situation that I'm in right now."

"I know, and I'm sorry if I'm being tough with you, but this is stuff you needed to hear."

"I know I did, thanks for telling me. How about we get back to shopping?" I asked, and she agreed. We spent the rest of the time going around the rest of the mall. By the time we were walking to the rehearsal, we both were weighed down with twenty bags each. I still don't know how we managed to carry them all, but somehow we did. As we walked down the street, no less than four police cars went flying past us, with sirens wailing. We gave them a curious look, but thought nothing of them.

That was until we got to the rehearsal site, and found them sitting there.


	6. I Didn't Do Anything Wrong

Kristina and I tried to run inside, but were stopped by two police officers at the door.

"Sorry, girls, nobody goes in."

"But our band is in there! We need to get in there to be with them!" I said. How could he not recognize us?

"Not my problem. We've got orders. Nobody gets in or out of this building. Total lockdown."

"Sir, I don't think you understand. She's Rosalina Tai, and I'm Kristina Reyes. She's a guitarist and I'm the bassist for the Naked Brothers Band, who's in there right now. If something's going on, we need to be with our band."

"I feel for you two, I really do. But orders are orders." Kristina kept arguing with the officers. I walked away and pulled out my phone. Please pick up, please pick up.

"Rosalina, where are you and Kristina?"

"Good to hear you, too, Cooper. We're outside."

"Well get in here now!"

"We'd love to, but there are two wonderful police officers guarding the door. They won't let us in."

"I'll be right out. Just don't do anything rash."

"Like I ever do anything rash."

"The night before this tour. Need I say more?"

"Low blow, Coop, low blow."

"Sorry if the truth hurts. Just don't let Kristina do anything rash, don't you do anything rash, I'll be there in two minutes." He said as he hung up. I went back over to Kristina. She was still yelling at the officers. I put a hand on her shoulder and shook my head.

"Coop is coming to get us." I told her, and she backed down. Two minutes later, there was a knock at the door. The officers opened it and there stood Cooper.

"There you two are! We've been waiting for you!" He said, running to give us both hugs. The officers stopped him.

"Sir, no one is supposed to leave this building. It's on complete lockdown. These ladies were trying to get in. We told them our orders."

"So your orders were to keep our friends out? To keep the two people who could help us the most locked outside?"

"They claim to be Rosalina Tai and Kristina Reyes."

"That's not just a claim, they really are. Now, if you want to keep getting in the way, I'll gladly call your chief. I bet he'd love to hear about this." I had never heard Cooper get so assertive. It was awesome! The officers started stammering.

"That…that won't b-be necessary, sir. M-m-my apologies, lad-d-dies." They said, waving us in. We walked in, and as the doors closed behind us, we both dropped our bags and hugged Cooper.

"Thanks, Coop. You're the best!" I said.

"Will you please find something that I don't already know and tell me that, instead of something you've now told me twice within a couple of days?"

"You're ugly and you mother dresses you funny." Kristina said, not able to keep a laugh back. Cooper tried to look offended, but it didn't work. We all started laughing. Kristina and I picked our bags up and Cooper offered to take some. Such a gentleman. We walked through the arena to the stage where we would be performing in two days. Cooper had decided that we should rehearse in the setting we would have to play in. It made sense. As we walked onto the stage, it took a minute to fully process everything that I saw.

There were police officers everywhere, talking to Alex, Thomas, David, Qaasim, even Tuffy and Jesse. Two came over to us.

"Excuse us, ladies, are you Rosalina Tai and Kristina Reyes?"

"We are. What's wrong?" I asked.

"I need you two to come with us. We just want to talk to you a little aways from the rest of the band. No worries, we'll still be in sight of everyone, just out of earshot." One officer said, putting a hand on my shoulder and guiding me one way, while another officer guided Kristina the other way. We sat down in back row seats at the far left side of the area. I could see Kristina with the other officer on the other side of the seating area.

"Ok, now I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. Some may make you a little uncomfortable, but I need you to answer as truthfully as possible. Is that understood?"

I nodded my head. I had been part of investigations before, so I knew what to expect.

"Ok, first question. Why were you and Miss Reyes not here with the rest of the band? You were expected back ten minutes ago."

"That was totally our fault. We had a girls' day out, shopping at the Mall of America. We kind of got lost trying to find the entrance again."

"Can anyone verify that you were actually at the Mall of America?"

"We told Cooper we were going there, he saw us go that way, and you can check the video cameras at pretty much every store in the place and see us there. Plus, did you not see all of our bags when we walked in? Where else would we be?" I asked. I didn't like the tone she was taking with me.

"Alright, I was just curious. We have to cover all the angles, as I'm sure you're aware. Now, what's your relationship with Nat Wolff?"

"We're friends. I mean, right now we're kind of in a silent fight, but we've always been close friends. Even after the break up. Even still."

"Who broke up with whom, Miss Tai?"

"Technically I broke up with him. We had a fight, I told him I was tired of it, he agreed, and then asked me if I was breaking up with him, the band, or both. I said both."

"So you may not have actually used the words 'break up' if he hadn't said them?"

"I don't know. I may have. I was really mad at him at the time. What does any of this have to do with anything?"

"Miss Tai, as I'm sure you aren't yet aware, there is a situation in progress. We are attempting to investigate, and unfortunately, given your history, you are a suspect."

"A suspect! I wouldn't do anything! I don't even know what's going on!"

"Miss Tai, please remain…"

"I will not remain calm! Not when I'm being accused of God knows what! I didn't do anything wrong!" I said, storming off. Everyone stared at me, but I didn't care. This was so messed up. How could the police suspect me of doing anything? I had spent the entire day with Kristina, Cooper had approved it. I didn't even know what was going on, just that I had seen the police cars fly past us. I went into my dressing room and slammed the door. Only a few seconds later, there was a knock at the door, and Cooper walked in.

"You know, you didn't help your case any right there."

"What case, Cooper!? There's no case! I didn't do anything! You know where I was!"

"I do, but given what has happened…"

"Cooper, what's going on? Please, just tell me. Everyone seems to want to keep it from me."

"Rosalina, I don't know how to tell you this, but today there was…an incident. Apparently it was superhero day at the amusement park. Everyone came dressed as superheroes, except for our guys who had no idea. While walking to one of the rides, someone tried to grab Alex."

"But Alex is fine. I saw him when I walked in."

"Let me finish, please. Thomas, David, Nat, and Qaasim started fighting, protecting Alex. Unfortunately, as Alex got away, whoever it was grabbed Nat and ran."

I collapsed to the ground, the reality of everything hitting me. Now I understood all the questions.

Nat had been kidnapped.

And they thought I was involved in it.


	7. I'm Always Here

I sat down, trying to wrap my mind around it all.

"How can the suspect me of helping kidnap Nat?"

"They have to look at everything, Rosalina, and with the history between you two…they have to at least look into it. He has been really hard with you. I mean, not trusting you the first time you were home, when that article about you and Michel kissing was first released. When you officially came back from the tour and you two had that huge fight because you kissed Michel again and Nat almost broke Michel's finger. If anyone had a motive to be mad at Nat, it's you."

"But we've talked about that stuff! We've made up from both of those fights. We just haven't quite gotten back together again. Cooper, this can't seriously be happening!"

"I understand how you feel, Rosalina, and I know that you didn't do anything. The police will see that, you just need to cooperate with them."

"I'll try, but it'll be a lot easier when they stop accusing me."

"Just stay calm. They'll find Nat."

"I hope so. Would you go get Alex, please? I want to talk to him."

"Sure thing." He said and he left. I took a couple of deep breaths. A few minutes later, Alex walked in.

"Sup Rosalina?"

"Is this your idea of a joke? Cause if so, this really isn't funny."

"What are you talking about?"

"Operation Heartmend. Is this some stupid idea of yours? Get someone to kidnap Nat, I go to his rescue, and when I find him, he's so happy that he forgets all about our fight?"

"No, no, I swear I didn't do that…though it's a brilliant idea. I wish that I had thought of it."

"Alex, this isn't funny! We have to find Nat before anything bad happens!"

"The police are doing everything that they can. We just need to wait, they'll figure it out. They can't keep suspecting you forever."

"I don't understand why they're suspecting me in the first place."

"I'd explain it, but I'm sure Cooper already has. Just stay calm, Rosalina. Everything will work out."

"I'm worried, Alex." I said, starting to cry. I didn't realize how worried I was about Nat. I saw Alex wipe his eyes, and I knew he felt the same, but didn't want to say it, in fear of totally breaking down. I opened my arms, and he came in for a hug. As soon as he was against me, he had his head on my shoulder and was crying. I just sat there holding him. The poor little guy didn't deserve this. He had to watch Nat struggle to lead this band, he put up with everything that Nat and I went through; he didn't need to now worry about if he'd even see his brother again. He sat there for ten minutes, and I just held him, comforting him. Finally, he sat up and gave a last little sniffle.

"Thanks, Rosalina."

"What are big sisters for?"

"You know, you technically aren't my sister yet. You still need to marry Nat before you can actually say you're my sister." He said, smiling.

"Hey, you were the one who said I was like the big sister you never had."

"Aww poo-poo sauce, you did remember that."

"Yes I did, Alex Wolff." I said, poking him in his stomach. He laughed and put a hand where I poked.

"That tickles!" I smiled and started repeatedly poking him. He couldn't stop laughing long enough to tell me to stop. Kristina walked in.

"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, but Cooper wants to have a band meeting."

"Alright, we'll be there in a few." I told her. She nodded and walked away. "You ready to go see everyone again?"

"Yeah. And Rosalina. Thanks for being here for me." He gave me another hug.

"Alex, I'm always going to be here for you. Even when I go off to college, you know that if you ever need to talk about anything, you can always call me. The only time I won't answer is if I'm in class. And I'd call you back as soon as I got out."

"Thanks, Rosalina. Let's go see what Cooper wants." We stood up and went back to the stage, where Cooper and everyone else was.

"Ok guys, now that everyone's here, we have some decisions to make. Tuffy's going to get the bus, and we'll be staying on there. But we need to decide how long we're going to stay here."

"That's not even a question, Coop. We stay here until Nat is found." I said. He shook his head.

"As much as we'd all love to, we do have our tour to think about. I know none of you wants to continue the tour without Nat, but we may have to. We've already put out a lot of money renting these arenas. We can cancel at maximum two concerts to wait for Nat. If Nat isn't found, then Alex will take over as singer."

"Who will play drums, then?" Alex asked.

"I was thinking that you could teach Rosalina. She already plays ten instruments; it shouldn't be hard for her to get some simple beats down for the songs." Everyone agreed. I just stayed silent. They had a couple of other discussions, but I only half listened. Nat would wait as long as he needed to for any of us to be found. Why were we abandoning him? Two concerts were being canceled, which gave us a week. I didn't care what it took. I would use this week to go find Nat. Even if it wasn't Alex's plan, it still seemed like a good idea for Operation Heartmend. For two days, Kristina and I went out, looking around town for any signs of Nat. Not that we told Cooper that, of course. The third day, the police showed up at the bus. Tuffy opened the door and one of them came on.

"Excuse me, can we please talk to Rosalina Tai?" one of the asked. I stood up.

"That's me."

"Come with us, please."

"If it's all the same, I'd rather stay with my friends until I know exactly what's going on."

"Trust me, Miss, you don't want to have to do this with your friends around."

"Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of them."

"As you wish. We went back to the scene of the crime, looking for evidence. Of course, fingerprints are hard to get at a place like an amusement park. However, we did find two things that might give us clues." She told us as she pulled out a tennis shoe and a pink feathery boa. "Do either of these look familiar to any of you."

I recognized the shoe. "That looks like one of my shoes. I have a pair that's almost exactly like it."

"May we see the shoes, please?"

"Of course." I got up and went to get the pair of shoes. My heart sank when I noticed that one of the shoes was missing. That didn't just look like my shoe…it was my shoe. I took the one shoe out.

"Where is the other one, Miss Tai?"

"I don't know. It's not where I usually put my shoes. It could be anywhere."

"Like right here in my hand?"

"That would mean that somebody broke onto this bus and stole my shoe. I doubt that Tuffy would let that happen."

"Yet Tuffy was with you all at the hotel and then at the arena. How could he make sure that the bus was protected? What was stopping you from coming back on and grabbing the pair of shoes to go to the amusement park?"

"Look, she wasn't at the park! That would have meant that she had known about superhero day, which she couldn't have known about." Thomas said. He was actually defending me?

"Well, what about this boa? Is this familiar to anyone?" We all shook our heads. Some guy in a white coat came onto the bus and whispered something to the officer. The officer just chuckled.

"Well, well, well. Looks like we have a liar on this bus." We all looked at each other, really confused.

"What do you mean?" Cooper asked her.

"I mean that we took some DNA off of the shoe and a few feathers from the boa. There was a lot of DNA on the boa, but there was one bit that matched some from the show, and both of those pieces of DNA matched that of someone on this bus. Miss Tai, stand up and put your hands behind your back."

"This is insane! I have never seen that boa before in my life!"

"DNA doesn't lie. Now, hands behind your back please." I let out a sigh and did as I was told. She came over and put the cuffs on me.

"Rosalina Tai, you're under arrest for the kidnapping of Nat Wolff. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot…" I didn't listen to the rest of my Miranda rights. I was too focused on the facts.

Nat was still missing.

And I was under arrest.

Somehow, someone was framing me.


	8. The Pink Boa

The officer took me off the bus and guided me to her car. Of course the press was having a field day. Cameras were flashing from every angle. I could only imagine what the headline tomorrow would be. Not that I would see it. She drove me to the station, and put me through the whole booking process. I was the put in a small cell where I would wait for my trial, which could be anywhere from a week to a couple of months, if I was lucky. I decided that I might as well get comfortable. I sat down on my bunk. As soon as I was comfortable, the same officer who arrested me came and got me. Apparently they wanted to do an interrogation. I was sat down in a room with only two chairs and a table. She sat down across from me.

"Now, Miss Tai, you can make this really easy on yourself if you just tell us where Mr. Wolff is."

"I don't know where Nat is. If I did, I'd have personally gone and rescued him."

"So you stand by your lie that you aren't involved with his kidnapping and want to see him safely brought back?"

"I do stand by it because it's not a lie."

"Miss Tai, we have DNA evidence that places you at that amusement park."

"I'm being framed!"

"And who would want to frame you?"

"I don't know. But clearly someone wants to."

"I see. Well, maybe this will help you, then. Your friend, David, gave a description of the superhero costume that the kidnapper was wearing. We had our people do a sketch of it based on your friends' description." She said, sliding a piece of paper towards me. "Does this help you identify who might want to frame you, if what you say is true?"

I looked at it and let out a sigh. These people were too good. I was looking at the costume I had worn to the Masquerade party after my first prom. BS, Birdie's Sidekick. I sat silently. I finally decided to do something smart and take advantage of my right to remain silent.

"Miss Tai, you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide. Now, does this help you pinpoint a culprit?"

"I'd like to talk to my lawyer. May I make a call?"

"You get one call." She said, and she escorted me to the phones. I entered one of the booths, closed the door, and made my call.

"Hello?"

"Cooper, it's Rosalina."

"Rosalina! How are you? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. A little shaken, but fine. Look, I need a favor."

"Anything, what's up?"

"Do we have a band lawyer that I would be able to use?"

"Yeah, we do. Do you want me to call her up and send her your way?"

"Please do. Evidence is stacking against me. Whoever framed me is doing it really well."

"I'll make the call. Just hang in there, Rosalina. We'll get you out of there."

"Thanks, Coop. Talk to you whenever I get out of here, I guess."

"Talk to you then. And don't worry, we're still working on finding Nat."

"Thanks, Coop. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone. I opened the door and the officer put a hand on my shoulder.

"Would you like to continue our discussion?"

"Not until my lawyer gets here."

"Then it's back to your cell." She said, guiding me through the building. I hoped that Coop knew what he was doing. The rate the evidence was piling up, I would need a seriously good lawyer.

Two days later, I was told my lawyer was here. I was put in a room with her, where we would be allowed to have our preliminary discussion before we returned to interrogation. She stood up as I entered and extended a hand.

"Nice to meet you, Rosalina. I'm Polly Draper, official lawyer of the Naked Brothers Band."

I shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, too, Ms. Draper."

"Please, call me Polly. Now down to business. I've been looking over the case. It really doesn't look good for you right now, Rosalina. Your tennis shoe, your DNA on the boa. I'm not saying that I think you're guilty. What I am saying is that we need solid evidence that places you anywhere else aside from that amusement park at the time of the kidnapping."

"Can't we get videos from the security cameras at both the amusement park and the Mall of America? If we can find out the approximate time of the kidnapping, I can give you a guess at which stores Kristina and I may have been in. If we can show that I was in those stores at the same time as the kidnapping, would that be enough?"

"That would be an excellent start. I'll make the necessary calls as soon as I leave here. Now, what about this costume that David described? Can you tell me about that?

"That's the main reason I wanted a lawyer. They showed me the picture. David didn't mean any harm, but he made my life a lot harder. That was my superhero costume. In the middle of my first prom, during my freshman year, I went to a Masquerade party at the middle school where the band performed I Don't Want To Go To School. Nat was a made up sidekick to his brother, who ended up being a sidekick to his own made up superhero. Nat's name was Birdie. I decided to do something to make Nat feel better about the situation and became Birdie's Sidekick. And wore the exact costume that David described."

That does make this more difficult, but not impossible, if those videos prove to work in our favor, showing you at the Mall of America at the time of the kidnapping. Now, I'm technically not supposed to do this, but while we're alone here, are there any messages that you would like me to take back to the band for you?"

"Just tell Alex that I'm going to be alright, and to have faith. Also, tell Kristina to take care of Alex for me. I know he's probably scared out of his mind."

"I can easily do that. Are you ready to face interrogation again?"

"With you at my side, I feel ready to face anything." She smiled at me. She went and knocked on the door. Another officer brought in a chair and placed it next to me. Polly took that seat, and the new guy took the seat across from us.

"How do you do, ladies? I'm Officer Ross. I'll be taking the interrogation from here, if that's ok with you two." I nodded.

"Alright then. Now, Miss Tai, we have DNA evidence that places you at the scene of the crime. Can you please identify this super hero costume that attempted to kidnap Alex and successfully kidnapped Nat?"

"I wouldn't say it's a superhero, considering it clearly says sidekick. As for the B, that could stand for anything."

"Miss Tai, I'm trying to be nice, but when you try my patience, it makes it difficult. Do you know who the owner of this costume is?" he asked, more forcefully. I glanced at Polly.

"Be honest, Rosalina. It doesn't help you, but honesty will be better." I nodded.

"That was my costume two years ago. I wore it to a Masquerade party at our middle school."

"So you admit that the costume is yours, the tennis shoe is yours, and we have your DNA on the boa. Yet you still claim to be innocent?"

"Absolutely. I was at the Mall of America all day." The guy put his head in his hands.

"Miss Tai, can you tell us anything that will make me want to believe you?"

I almost shook my head when I was hit with what I guessed to be a flashback.

_ I was sitting at a table with Nat. I was in the white dress that I had worn to my first prom. He was in that stunning blue tux that Alex told him all guys wore. He thought he looked ridiculous. I thought he was the best looking guy there. I was looking at him, and thinking about how I wished he had let me say no to Wade so that I could take him up on his offer to be my date to this thing. Suddenly, I felt something brush against my shoulder, falling. I looked at the ground, and saw a pink boa. I picked it up, wondering where it had come from._

_ "Oh, I'll take that."_

_ I looked up and gasped._

That was when I felt myself being shaken back to reality.

"Rosalina, are you ok?" Polly asked, concerned.

"Yeah, what happened?"

"You kind of zoned out, and then slumped onto the table for a second there. What happened?" Officer Ross asked.

"Nevermind that, I'm fine. Officer, how long can DNA stay on something?" I asked.

I had a new vigor for the fight.

Because I now knew who owned that stupid boa.


	9. Visitors

Officer Ross looked confused. Polly just looked at me, wondering where this was going. I smiled. I finally had my way out of here. Unfortunately, the best case scenario got me out of here the day we had to leave for our next concert. There still was no word on progress about finding Nat.

"Well…the evidence found on that boa could have been there for any amount of time, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"Because I just remembered how my DNA got on that boa. It was my first prom. I was sitting next to Nat, because we both got ditched by our dates, not that either of us cared. My hands were kind of sweaty, cause I was nervous. I mean, I was sitting next to the most handsome guy in the world, and we had just danced together. I was nervous because I thought it might have finally been going somewhere. As we're sitting there, a pink boa floats down and brushes my shoulder. I pick it up and look at it, and a girl comes over and says that she'll take it, because it's her boa. That boa that I picked up that night was the same boa that you used to help arrest me."

"Can you give us a name, so that we can look into this claim, please?" I told them the name. Officer Ross got up to leave, saying that Polly and I had a few more minutes to discuss our plans, and then I was to return to my cell.

"That was fantastic, Rosalina! Now that's something we can work with to prove your innocence!"

"Thanks, Polly." I said, not able to contain my smile. "I don't know what brought on the sudden memory, but it just hit me. The only thing that I don't get is how she would have known about my sidekick costume."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. I'll go tell the band the good news. And if I hear anything about Nat, I'll make sure to tell you when next I come, which will be whenever they find out whether you're telling the truth or not." I almost got offended, but then I remembered that we were dealing with the police, and that they had to check everything.

"Thanks for everything, Polly."

"It's what I'm here for. I'm just glad to finally be working, though I wish it weren't under these circumstances, of course."

"I understand. Well, I guess I'll see you soon enough."

"Bye, Rosalina, and best of luck to you." She said as she walked out. I was escorted through the building again, but instead of going to my cell, I was taken to the visitor room.

"Miss Tai, you have a visitor." I went in and saw Alex sitting at the table. He got up, ran over to me, and jumped into my arms, giving me a hug. The guards stepped forward, but backed off when I hugged him and told them it was ok.

"Alex, what are you doing here?"

"I had to come and see you. I miss you."

"I miss you, too, Alex. But you've got to keep hanging in there. I'll be out soon enough. We have something that may have helped my case."

"That's awesome! How are they treating you?"

"Alright, I guess. I mean, just because I'm Rosalina Tai doesn't change that I'm a prisoner. But they treat me well enough."

"That's good."

"Yeah. You behaving yourself?"

"Have I ever before?"

"You usually try."

"That's only cause you're around." He said, laughing. I tousled his hair.

"Well I'll be back really soon, so you better get ready to go back to behaving, understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Well, I better go. Cooper wants to do another rehearsal. He said that even with two band members out, he wants us to stay tight. He said it's what you both would want."

"He knows me well, then. See you later, Alex." I said, giving him another hug. He hugged me tightly back, and then left. Now I was escorted back to my cell. The next day, nothing really happened. What would Cooper do if we had to push the tour back any more? I went to the bars, hoping to see a guard.

"Excuse me!" I said, trying to get the attention of the nearby guard. He came over.

"Yes?"

"I know it's a little unusual, but would it be possible for me to get a newspaper? I want to see what's going on outside."

"I'll see what I can do, but I make you no promises. That usually is not allowed."

"Thank you." I said, going back to sit on my cot. A few hours later, I was brought today's paper. I checked the headline, first.

**ROSALINA TAI ARRESTED**

_ Almost a week ago, the police were seen flying down the streets of Bloomington. Of course, this reporter wanted to find out why? Apparently they were going to investigate the matter of a kidnapping. Not just any kidnapping, though, but the kidnapping of Nat Wolff, lead singer of the Naked Brothers Band. Following up on this, there has been an arrest made. Miss Rosalina Tai has been arrested for involvement. Rosalina, former bassist and current guitarist alongside Qaasim Middleton, refused to make any comments as she was escorted to the squad car in handcuffs. We have yet been unable to reach any of the band members for comment about the kidnapping and the arrest. However, we did catch up with NBB insider, Matt Pinfield, who shares his speculations._

_ "Yeah, I always knew that tensions were high between Nat and Rosalina. How could they not be, after she dumped him and then he immediately went out to find a new girlfriend, finding love with Kristina Reyes? I guess Rosalina wasn't too happy with getting a taste of her own medicine."_

_ I went on to ask if he truly believed Rosalina to be guilty._

_ "There's not a shred of doubt in my mind. Nobody else has the motive, or the means. Only a member of the band could have gotten close enough to Nat to grab him. That lazy fatty is always too close. But I guess we'll just have to leave to the jury to decide. How will they decide? I think I know." Matt told us, unable to resist doing his signature laugh for us._

I turned the page, not being able to read any more of that. So now people would be reading that Matt Pinfield believed me to be guilty of helping kidnap Nat. Hopefully nobody believed him. I had enough problems with the fans as it was. I decided to go read my horoscope, just for fun.

_Your enemies are everywhere, and your fate stands on the edge of a knife. Tread carefully, or you'll lose that which you hold dearest. Confrontation is both friend and foe today. Avoid the color pink today unless absolutely necessary._

Well, that was a comforting horoscope. Almost as comforting as the one Alex got that day we won our first VMA for Banana Smoothie. Avoiding pink would be easy. Not a lot of pink in prison. It did kind of upset me, though. I mean, pink was my color. When I wrestled with Nat, I was Pinky the Girly Girl, though I don't think they thought of me as a girly girl after I took Nat down in two seconds. The guard came back.

"Miss Tai, a visitor." Geez was I popular in here. Which member of the band came to see me today? We went to the visiting room, and I sat down, waiting for my visitor.

"I wondered how long it would take you to catch on to my boa. I actually expected more from you, Rosalina."

I turned to the door and found myself facing one of the four people I hated the most in the world.

And my horoscope made sense.

Avoid pink, she was wearing all pink.

Enemies are everywhere. And here she is.

Confrontation is friend or foe. This could go either way.

I looked into her eyes, trying to decide how to handle this.

But it was hard not to get mad at her.

How I hated that Patrice Johnson.


	10. The Results Are In

"What do you want, Patrice?"

"Am I not allowed to visit one of my good friends while she's stuck in prison?"

"You and I both know we aren't friends. You tried multiple times to get me to be friends with you, and I made my choice. I chose Nat every time."

"Actually, if I remember right, you didn't pick Nat every time. You quit my music video, Long Distance, because you were too embarrassed to kiss him."

"No, Patrice, you made me think I was. I was stupid enough to let you in my head to allow that to happen, but I made that up to Nat. And I have chosen him ever since."

"And yet you're sitting in here, instead of trying to find him."

"Because you framed me for his kidnapping!"

"Oh yeah. Well, it's about time life was unfair to you."

"You don't know anything about my life, Patrice."

"Oh yes, it must have been so difficult. All the screaming fans, everybody knowing your name, everyone wanting your autograph. I deserve to be famous! I was the most popular girl in our class! Yet when it came down to it, I was nothing compared to the famous Rosalina. Well now who's nothing? Your fans hate you, you're a convict…"

"I haven't been convicted, yet. And I won't be, now that I know that boa was yours. By the way, how did you even know about the boa?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? And I wouldn't get my hopes up for freedom. I'm sure there will be more against you than for you."

"Why are you doing this, Patrice? Don't you realize how crazy this is?"

"Of course I do. Honestly, I got you arrested because I was bored. No, my actual plan is more fulfilling."

"And what is that, exactly?"

"Well, I guess I can tell you, being you're going to be spending a lot of time behind bars. You see, I realized that if I ever wanted to rise to fame, I would have to marry famous. I picked Nat Wolff. So as we speak, he's resting in a nice, safe place to think about who he truly loves. And no, that isn't you. At least, not for much longer. Soon it will be me. You will become nothing, just another girl walking down the street."

"Nat would never abandon me. Even if he tried, the rest of the band wouldn't allow it."

"Rosalina, dear, don't you realize that most of that band is against you? Thomas and David are mad at you. Qaasim and Kristina tolerate you at best. Cooper might genuinely like you. And Alex, well, he won't be too happy when he finds out that his brother is missing because of your stupid fights. If you hadn't had all those fights with Nat, the fans wouldn't hate you, and wouldn't be so easy to convince to do exactly what I wanted."

"You do realize how insane you sound right now, right?!"

"And whose fault is that? Everything comes back to you, Rosalina Tai. But don't you worry about that much longer. Soon you'll be locked away, where nobody will have to suffer dealing with you anymore." She said. I got up and lunged at her. She side stepped and screamed. Within seconds, I had three guards on me. Two grabbing my arms and one standing in front of me, blocking my way to Patrice. They dragged me out of the room. I knew that I had made a mistake trying to attack Patrice, but she made me so angry. The guards tossed me back into my cell, and I started punching my pillow.

* * *

"Miss Tai, you're free to go." I was told, as the cell opened up. I walked out of the building. The first people I saw were my friends. I ran to them. That was when I realized that they were all glaring at me.

"What's up, guys?"

"Is it true? You knew where Nat was and didn't tell anyone?" Thomas asked. I was shocked.

"No! If I had any clue where Nat was, I'd have told people and then personally gone to rescue him."

"Then why didn't you do more? Patrice was the one who found him." David told me.

"Patrice was the one who kidnapped him in the first place!"

"How dare you!" Nat yelled at me. I had just noticed him there. "Patrice did nothing but save me. She's a better girl than you ever were, Rosalina."

"Nat, please don't say that, I know you don't mean it."

"I do, Rosalina. I'm sorry, but I don't love you, I love Patrice." He said, and she walked up.

"Hey babe, are we done here?"

"Yeah, we are." He said and he started kissing her. I wanted to attack again. I wanted to ruin her life like she was ruining mine. All I could do was cry.

"Cooper, please. What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Rosalina, but the band has decided that we can do fine without you. You're being let go."

"No!"

* * *

"NO!" I shouted as I woke up. I was panting heavily. I was still in my cell. It was just a dream. A horrible nightmare. I tried to go back to sleep, but just couldn't. So I stared at the ceiling. This was, by far, turning into the absolute worst tour I'd ever been on with the Naked Brothers Band. Nat was in trouble and I couldn't do a thing about it. I just stared at the ceiling for hours.

"Miss Tai." I jumped. I hadn't noticed anyone come.

"Yes?"

"We've called your lawyer in. The results are back. We'll take you to the interrogation room, where we can wait for her. Once she gets here, we'll discuss." I just nodded and got up. He put a hand on my shoulder. I was getting too used to being guided. We got to the interrogation room, and only half an hour later, Polly walked in.

"Good morning, folks."

"Morning Ms. Draper." Officer Ross said.

"Morning, Polly."

"So, I hear that we have news about the case."

"That we do, Ms. Draper. It appears that there is truth to what Miss Tai said. The DNA of one Patrice Johnson was all over that boa. The only way that would be possible is if she owned the boa herself. So that does raise suspicion. However, that does not change the fact that Miss Tai's shoe was still found at the scene, and that didn't have any trace of Miss Johnson's DNA."

"Wasn't there any other traces on it?" I asked.

"Miss Tai, there were tons of traces on your shoe. Every person who has ever touched your shoe would have a trace on there. We don't have time to sort through every single bit of evidence that is on that shoe. Luckily for you, we don't have to. We got those videos. Turns out that you were right, Miss Tai. The videos show you in American Eagle with another girl at the time that Nat Wolff was kidnapped." He said and I let out a large fist pump.

"Does that mean that I can be let go?"

"As soon as everything is processed, yes. You were arrested on charges of kidnapping Nat Wolff, and it's been proven that you had no part in the actual kidnapping. So as soon as everything is processed, you'll be free to go." I smiled. I was getting out of here. I'd be back on the hunt for Nat. By now, Cooper had to have realized we would have to cancel one more concert. A few hours later, I was being escorted out of the jail, but Officer Ross didn't have a hand on me. As we walked into the lobby of the building, I saw her there.

"What are you doing here, Patrice? Haven't you done enough?"

"Rosalina, dear, I'm so glad to see they let you out, It's such a shame that you had to spend any time behind bars at all." She was clearly faking, but everyone else seemed to buy it.

"Thanks…I guess. But why are you here?"

"Why, I came to congratulate my aunt on a successful job well done."

"Wait, who?"

"My aunt, Aunt Polly."


	11. Nat is Found

**Being I have put this for a while, guess I better cover my rear end and say that I STILL DO NOT OWN THE NAKED BROTHERS BAND. I'd like to, but I don't, sadly. **

**Also had a really random thought last night. Not that I think it actually happens, but how awesome would it be if any of the members of the NBB were actually reading our stories?**

**Also, the end of this chapter and parts of the next chapter are going to be a kind of graphic. We find out what Nat went through, and it isn't pretty. There are lines around the paragraph in this chapter. Feel free not to read those parts if you don't like that kind of stuff. The last three sentences summarize what you need to know.**

I walked outside without saying anything. How could Polly not mention that Patrice was her niece? As soon as I walked outside, I saw the entire band minus Nat standing there, waiting. My eyes had barely adjusted to the light when I felt someone giving me a flying hug. I wrapped my arms around him, knowing it was Alex.

"I knew you'd get out! I just knew it!"

"I told you I would, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did. It's good to have you back, Rosalina."

"It's good to be back, Alex." I said, putting him down. He refused to let go of me, though. I guess with Nat missing, he needed an anchor he trusted. I was that anchor. With Alex attached, I went down to the rest of the band. Everyone was patting me on the back and congratulating me. Kristina and Cooper both gave me hugs, around Alex, of course.

"How about we get on the bus before fans show up and try to mob you again, Rosalina." Cooper said. I just nodded, smiling. Things were finally starting to look up. Now if we could just find Nat, I knew that everything would be perfect. Once we were on the bus and all comfortable, I looked to Cooper.

"So when do we leave for our next concert?"

"I canceled another concert. With you behind bars, we couldn't keep going. So we have two more days before we have to roll again."

"So what do we do for those two days?" Thomas asked.

"Whatever you want, as long as you all stay on the bus." We all started protesting. "Guys, it's for your own safety! Nat's still missing, and whoever has him…"

"I can tell you exactly who has him. She told me herself. The only problem is that there's no recorded evidence."

"Who did it!?" asked everyone at slightly different times.

"Patrice Johnson."

"That obnoxious girl who thought she was the most popular girl in your class?" Alex asked. I ruffled his hair, which made him laugh, but make sounds of protest.

"Yes, that Patrice Johnson. She's finally gone off the deep end. She thinks that by kidnapping Nat, she can make him fall in love with her, and then she'll be famous like she thinks she deserves."

"But how did she know about your sidekick costume or get your shoe?"

"Well, the sidekick costume was easy. The entire prom left the premiere of 'her' music video to come hear us play, so she could easily have come upstairs and seen me in my costume. The show I can't quite figure out, either, but somehow she did. She's also manipulating the fans. She's using their hatred of me to get them to help her. I'd put any money on the fact that she was the 'friend' that I was being taken to when that fan tried kidnapping me."

"Wow, she really is crazy. She might be even crazier than Crazy Betty." Alex said. I nodded.

"That's not important, though, right now, Alex. What's important is that we need to keep everyone on this bus safe, and that means that until we roll to our next city, none of the band goes anywhere. If we need supplies, Tuffy can go do the grocery shopping for us."

"Tuffy can do what now? I do not remember volunteering to be no grocery shopper. What if those crazy fans recognize me, and want me to bring them to the band for autographs. There's too much love, man! Too much love!"

"Tuffy, you have to do it, if we really really need you to. You're the only one who won't immediately get mobbed as soon as you're seen."

"Alright, I'll do it. But if I lose another of my favorite shirts, y'all better believe you gonna be hearing about it." We all laughed at that. "It's not funny!" Which just made us laugh harder. When we all calmed down, Qaasim looked around at us.

"So what do you guys want to do?" We were all silent. I glanced at Kristina, who glanced at me.

"Hey Rosie, would you be my friend if I danced like this?" Kristina asked, and she got up and started doing this ridiculous dance that got everyone laughing.

"Sure Kristina, because, then, I would dance like this." I replied, and got up and did equally ridiculous dance moves. We kept going back and forth. Kristina even did the robot.

"Well, what if I danced like this?" I said, and I pulled out my actual moves. When I finished, Kristina just stared at me with a blank expression on her face.

"No." She said with the straightest face ever. We all cracked up, and she couldn't hold the face anymore. She joined our laughter.

"Alright, who's next?" I asked, looking around. Qaasim stood up.

"Hey David, would you be my friend if I danced like this?" And so it went. Each person called someone out, asking they would be friends if they danced like this, and did ridiculous dance moves. It was a blast, and clearly the most fun that these guys had had in the past couple of days. When we were all done, we were exhausted. We decided to kill some time and watch our old documentary footage. It was always good for a laugh. Anytime Nat and I would talk about dating, or something romantic would happen, people would look at me and make comments like "Could you have been any more obvious?" or "And you two took so long to get together why?". They actually paused the footage when Nat and I kissed in New Orleans and started singing the Hallelujah chorus. I stuck my tongue out at them all. Such children.

Right then, Cooper got up because his phone was ringing. A few minutes later, he came back to where we all were sitting.

"Guys, bus lock down is temporarily lifted."

"Why?" We all asked.

"Because Nat's been found! He's at a hospital just down the street!" We all jumped up, cheering. I actually had tears in my eyes. Things truly were starting to go right. We all got off the bus and Cooper led the way. When we got there, we asked which room Nat Wolff was in. The lady at the desk told us, but also told us that he wasn't awake. We went to his room. I was near the back. Even though he wasn't awake, I still didn't want to face him.

* * *

However, I eventually did pull myself together enough to go in and face him. As soon as I saw him, I instantly screamed and broke down. One look at him, and I knew that Patrice had to pay, big time. If he wasn't cut up, he was beaten and bruised. He had a couple of bumps on his head. A lot of his upper body was wrapped in bandaging, and I really didn't want to know that was bad under them that they actually needed to be wrapped. If this was the condition his upper half was in, I didn't want to see what condition the rest of him was in. If the upper half was any sign of what the rest of him looked like, I couldn't take it.

* * *

It was clear what had happened.

Nat had never been safe with Patrice.

Patrice had been abusing Nat.


	12. What Nat Wrote

** Just another friendly reminder that this chapter is going to be violent. If you aren't into violence, I'm making sure this chapter doesn't have anything critical to the plot, so you don't have to read it, if it so suits you not to.**

* * *

I was sitting next to Nat, looking at him. The band had left about an hour ago, but I needed to stay. After everything I had put Nat through, I'd have felt bad if I didn't stay. I looked around the room and saw the notebook that he was always writing in on his bedside table. I picked it up and opened it. I know, I shouldn't read his notebook without his permission, but I was curious. I opened to the most recent page with writing. I quickly realized it was a journal, and flipped back a few pages, to the day he was kidnapped.

_June 15__th_

_ Today someone made an attempt to kidnap Alex while we were at the amusement park. Thomas, Qaasim, David, and I all stepped in and stopped whoever it was that was attempting the kidnapping, but in the process I got grabbed instead. At least Alex is safe. They don't know about my notebook, or my pencil. They were stored safely within my backpack, which they didn't check. Whoever grabbed me was wearing Rosalina's costume from two years ago, Birdie's Sidekick. I still haven't seen the face of my kidnapper, but I figure I will soon. Unless I can get out of here before then, but I don't think it's likely._

I flipped the page.

_June 16__th_

_ The person who kidnapped me was that obnoxious Patrice girl from Rosalina's old class. She said something about how I'll grow to love her, and we'll get married and some other stupid stuff. All I could think about was Rosalina. I wonder if she even cares that I'm gone. Probably not. I hope she's at least decent enough to take care of Alex._

_ Ok, she just left. She wanted to talk to me again, and to introduce me to an old friend of hers. It was that guy with the highlights, Wade. For some reason, he was carrying a wooden board. I thought maybe he was working on fixing something for Patrice. She tried getting me to talk to her, but I only gave the shortest answers possible. Lucky she was happier talking about herself. She stood to leave, but before she left, she asked who the love of my life was. The answer was easy. Rosalina, I told her. She told me that was the wrong answer. Before I knew what was happening, Wade had beaten me three times with that wooden board. He wasn't very particular with his aim, so I got one blow to the head, one to my ribs, and the third to my left arm, which blocked another head shot. The arm may be broken. As she left, she said she'd be back tomorrow, we'd talk some more, and would ask again. She also said that I better give the right answer 'or else'. I guessed that 'or else' meant more beatings. I checked my ribs and already saw a bruise forming._

_June 17__th_

_ She came back, just like she said she would. She talked, but today she would not accept short answers. Anytime I gave her one, Wade would punch me as hard as he could. Again, he wasn't particularly aiming, just swinging. As she got up to leave again, she asked who the love of my life was. I gave her the same answer as yesterday. Rosalina. Today's punishment was worse. Five beatings with the wooden board and slammed into a wall. Before I started writing, I counted the bruises that I could see. There were seven total. One had a tiny bit of blood coming out. Normally I'd have put something on it to try to stop the bleeding, but it's so small, it will stop itself soon enough. How long can I hold out for Rosalina? I have to hold out as long as I can. I won't abandon her. She's my never ending love._

_June 18__th_

_ Another day of abuse. Patrice still didn't like the answer that the love of my life was Rosalina. Three more of my bruises had been broken open and were bleeding. Once Wade had actually grabbed a chair and beaten me across the back with it. I can just tell that my back is now the worst split open. I have several cuts on my chest from other incidents of getting shoved across the bed and scraping across the ground. As Patrice left, she told me that Rosalina had been arrested for kidnapping me. How could this have happened? I have to get out of here. I have to prove that Rosalina is innocent. When they left, I went into my backpack and pulled out an extra shirt that I had put in. I pinned it to the wall with my not broken arm and backed up into it, so that it was against my back. My hope was that it would be good enough to block the bleeding._

_June 19th_

_ When would the pain stop? When Patrice saw the shirt blocking the bleeding, she ripped it off, ripping the wound open again. I'm now certain that I have several broken ribs, along with my broken arm. I also would guess a small concussion, considering Wade's gotten my head at least four times. Wade was getting less merciful with his hits, and Patrice encourages him. How could she think that this would make me love her? It's getting harder to stay conscious. And the 'bed' that I was given to sleep on, which was just an uncomfortable mattress, is stained with blood, as is most of the floor. I just have to keep fighting. I have to find a way to escape, for Rosalina's sake._

_June 20__th_

_ Patrice seemed either annoyed or happy. I was so out of it I couldn't tell which. I still am out of it, but I need to keep writing. She said that Rosalina finally caught on about some boa. I just lay there, not saying anything. She was content, because she kept gloating. Wade wasn't here today. As with every other day, she asked who the love of my life was before she left. I still managed to say Rosalina, though the voice in the very back of my head was telling me to say Patrice, just to end the pain. She was furious. She took the wooden board, raised it above her head, and brought it down as hard as she could on my stomach. I immediately curled into a ball, trying to get my breath, as all the air had been knocked out of me. She kicked me a couple of times, hard. I'm starting to accept that this may well be the place where I die._

_June 21__st_

_ Nobody's come in today. I don't know where Patrice is, but I can't wait for a better chance. I'm forcing myself to stand. Many of my injuries are bleeding, and I know that Patrice will easily be able to follow me. But I don't care. As long as I have a chance to get away._

_ I'm free. I don't know where I am, exactly, but I can tell I'm still in Bloomington. I collapsed in an alleyway and called 911. I told them who I was, described my numerous injuries, and described where I was. They said they knew the area, and would send an ambulance for me immediately. I hope they're faster than Patrice. Either way, I won't be awake for it. Broken and beaten, possibly to death, I can already feel myself sliding out of consciousness. I don't know what fate has in store for me, but hopefully Rosalina will be free. If I don't make it through this, I hope that she reads this. I want her to know I never stopped fighting for her…I've always loved her…I always will._

I sat there crying as I finished reading his account.


	13. According to You

**No ownership of anything in this chapter, song character or otherwise.**

* * *

As I sat next to him, crying about the heavy abuse that I had just read about, I felt a hand place itself on top of my own. Jumped and looked up. It was Nat's hand, and he was looking at me.

"Nat, you're awake!" He gave a slight nod. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He just started coughing. One cough brought up blood. I yelled for a nurse, who came running in with doctors. I was rushed out of the room, and the door was closed. I immediately called Coop and told him what was going on. He said they would be there ASAP, and they were. It was barely ten minutes before they showed up. I was sitting in the waiting room of the floor Nat was on, crying. I felt everyone around me, wrapping their arms into a group hug, centered on me. The two people closest to me were Alex and Kristina. I was actually hugging Alex, because he, too, was crying. I knew that as hard as this was for me, it had to be so much harder for him. What seemed like forever later, a doctor came into the waiting room.

"Who's here for Nat Wolff?"

"We are." We all said at the same time.

"Well, the fact that he woke up at all is a miracle itself. There was a lot of internal damage and bleeding. On top of the external bleeding, bruises, and the concussion…Well, we're going to be keeping a close eye on him."

"He will be ok, though, won't he doctor?" Cooper asked. Leave it to our manager to keep a level head.

"He could be. Like I said, the fact that he even woke up shows a fighting spirit that we've never seen before. However, it isn't likely, not with the extent of abuse that he went through. Even if he does live, he'll need years of therapy with a psychiatrist to help him recover from this. We cannot tell exactly what all he was put through, but whatever it was, it broke him mentally, as well as physically. He panicked when we even reached to touch him. We were able to do the examination, however, after convincing him that we were not going to hurt him; that we just wanted to help."

"Is there any major damage that we should know about?"

"Besides what you saw, his voice box has been damaged. It will recover, but it will be quite a while before he'll be able to talk again. At least a year, I would say."

"Thank you very much, doctor."

"It's what we do. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got other patients that I need to check on." We all nodded, and he went off. I collapsed back onto the couch. I looked at Alex.

"Well, I guess Operation Heartmend is a bust."

"What do you mean a bust? It's not over yet."

"Alex, how can a fix all that I've done when he freaks our anytime someone tries to touch him? How can this even start to be fixed when he can't even talk?"

"He doesn't need to be able to talk for you to fix this. He just needs to be able to listen. And you said that he reached out and touched you. Maybe he'll let you. You're probably the reason for his fighting spirit."

"Maybe, but between all that I did with Bobby Love and then Michel…I can understand if he never wants to forgive me." At this point, Cooper came over.

"I wouldn't worry about that. Nat loves you too much to not forgive you. He just wants to see that you truly feel the same."

"How can I possibly do that?"

"I've already made some plans. I've called Bobby Love, Michel, and Patrice in. I figure you have some things to say to her, too."

"Oh, I have a lot I want to say to her. But why call Bobby Love and Michel in?"

"Because the band has been rehearsing a song that you're going to sing. I heard you blasting it on your iPod, and I knew it covered exactly how you felt. Whatever horrible things people say about Nat, you relate to this song and it goes both ways. Now let's get to the studio. We're going live in half an hour.

Half an hour later

I stood on the stage, ready to do this. Cooper had gone to the hospital to be with Nat, and to make sure that he was watching. We got the signal that we were live, and I started, after the live audience cheered. Coop really did think of everything.

"Welcome everyone, to this very special performance by the Naked Brother Band!" I said, and the entire band ran out. "Now, before we begin, I'd like to call three VERY special guests to the stage. I've got some strong, stored emotions for these three, and I think it's about time I let them out. So will Bobby Love, Michel, and Patrice please join me on stage!" All three of them came out, looking very confused.

"What are we doing here, Rosalina?"

"She has obviously called us here so that once and for all, sweet Rosa can profess her only love for Michel." Michel said. I rolled my eyes.

"As long as I get famous, I don't care why we're here." I laughed. Here we go.

"Well, you're about to see. And Nat, I hope you're watching and listening, because you play a big role in this song, too. Guys, hit it!" I said to the band, and they started playing. I went over to Bobby Love and poked him in the chest.

_According to you I'm stupid, I'm useless  
I can't do anything right  
According to you I'm difficult, hard to please  
Forever changing my mind_

_I'm a mess in a dress, can't show up on time  
Even if it would save my life  
According to you, according to you_

_But according to him I'm beautiful, incredible  
He can't get me out of his head  
According to him I'm funny, irresistible  
Everything he ever wanted  
Everything is opposite, I don't feel like stopping it  
So baby tell me what I got to lose  
He's into me for everything I'm not  
According to you_

I now moved over and looked Michel in the eye.

_According to you I'm boring, I'm moody  
And you can't take me any place  
According to you I suck at telling jokes  
'Cause I always give it away_

_I'm the girl with the worst attention span  
You're the boy who puts up with that  
According to you, according to you_

_But according to him I'm beautiful, incredible  
He can't get me out of his head  
According to him I'm funny, irresistible  
Everything he ever wanted  
Everything is opposite, I don't feel like stopping it  
So baby tell me what I got to lose  
He's into me for everything I'm not  
According to you_

_I need to feel appreciated  
Like I'm not hated, oh no  
Why can't you see me through his eyes?  
It's too bad, you're making me dizzy_

Finally, I moved over and patted Patrice on the cheek, a little harder than was absolutely necessary.

_But according to me you're stupid, you're useless  
You can't do anything right_

I took a few steps back, taking center stage.

_But according to him I'm beautiful, incredible  
He can't get me out of his head  
According to him I'm funny, irresistible  
Everything he ever wanted  
Everything is opposite, I don't feel like stopping it  
So baby tell me what I got to lose  
He's into me for everything I'm not  
According to you, you  
According to you, you_

I now looked straight into the camera.

"Nat, I hope you're listening. I made two huge mistakes, leaving the band because of what Bobby said, and then kissing Michel, causing me to leave again. But nothing I did was because of you. I didn't break up with you and leave the band because of how you were acting. You may have been unfair, but I broke up with you and quit the band because I was so ashamed of myself, for losing sight of what meant the most to me, Nat. I love you. I always have. I always will. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me and take me back." I took a bow, and the audience was cheering and awwhing. I thanked them, said good night, and the cameras went off.


	14. A Turn For The Worst

Before anyone could say anything to me, I ran out of the studio, heading for the hospital. I had to see Nat, before Patrice or anyone got to him. I knew I would have three angry people, and they would all try to take their revenge on Nat. Aside from wanting to protect him, I also had to know what he thought about the song. Did he even fully realize that the 'him' in the song was him? He had to know that.

I arrived at the hospital to see Tuffy and Jesse trying to keep Patrice, Michel, and Bobby in the lobby, away from Nat. I tried to sneak around them, but everyone saw me.

"What was that all about, Rosalina?" Bobby asked.

"Rosa, you cannot mean what you sung tonight. You cannot truly believe that you love the little boy. I know that you truly love me."

"Or that he still loves you. He's clearly madly in love with me."

"First off, Bobby, that was me finally coming clean about all my mistakes since I met you. Second off, Michel, I don't love you. I never have. I made a mistake when I kissed you. I was lonely. I missed Nat. I shouldn't have done it, and I've regretted it ever since. Finally, Patrice, if you really think that Nat loves you after what you put him through, you're crazier than I thought, and I already thought you pretty crazy."

They all started shouting stuff at me. Luckily, hospital security came and escorted all of them out of the building for disorderly conduct. I got in the elevator and went up to the third floor. The elevator music that was playing was one of Nat's earlier songs, Beautiful Eyes. I remembered when I found out about Nat writing it about me. I had to ask Mohammed, who showed me the footage of Nat talking to Cooper about it, and Cooper asking about the lyric that went blonde hair and shiny blue eyes. He said that I had brown hair and brown eyes. It was the first time I realized how much Nat actually cared about me. The elevator arrived at his floor, and I slowly walked to his room, afraid of what I would find. Would he be happy? Angry? Surprised?

When I walked in, I found him asleep, with Cooper sitting next to him. Cooper looked up when I walked in.

"He only just fell asleep. He saw the performance, and really wants to talk to you about it. He just couldn't stay awake any longer."

"I understand. You can go, if you want, Coop. I'll stay here with him."

"Sure thing, Rosalina. I figure this is something you two want to talk about alone, anyways."

"Yeah, even though he can't actually talk, it's just the effect, you know?"

"I do. Good luck with it." He hugged me as he said that, and then left. I sat down in the chair that he had previously occupied. I didn't know how long Nat would be asleep for, but I would wait as long as I needed to. I was patient.

It was several hours before Nat woke up again. I was half asleep, but when I felt his hand touch mine, I immediately woke up.

"Hey there. Good to see you awake again." I didn't really want to jump straight into talking about the performance. He picked up his notebook and pencil.

_Did you really mean what you said, after telling off Bobby, Michel, and Patrice? _Apparently he wanted to jump right in.

"Yes, I did. Nat, if I could take back every mistake I've made since Bobby, I would. I was stupid, and you've always deserved better than me. When we actually got together, I felt like it was too good to be true. When I broke up with you, it was because I felt like I had sunk too far beneath you to deserve to have such a wonderful boyfriend. I still don't think I do. But I'd like to try, if you're willing to have me back."

_Rosalina, I've always wanted you back. I've always loved you. I've missed being with you. I was just waiting until you were ready. After what you said before we left for this tour, I thought that it was over for good._

"I know, and I'm sorry about that. Everything was just happening so fast, and I got mad. I should have just talked to you, instead of letting me anger build up and explode like it did that night. Can you forgive me? Will you take me back?"

_There's nothing to forgive. I was a complete jerk to you just before you quit. You had every right to be mad. And of course I'll take you back. That is if you really want me. I can't talk, so I won't be able to sweet talk you or serenade you like I've been known to._ I smiled at him.

"You know, Nat, that's ok. Because you say it best when you say nothing at all." I said and I leaned in and kissed him. I didn't want to lean in too far, though. I didn't want to hurt him. I felt him move a hand to the back of my head, and the kiss deepened. We kept kissing for a couple more minutes, and only stopped because a doctor came in and said that he needed to do a check up on Nat. I gave him another kiss and told him that I would be back tomorrow. He smiled and nodded.

When I got back to the bus, everyone swamped me with questions.

"Did it work?"

"Are you two back together?"

"Did you kiss?"

"How mad are the three you called out?"

"Details, please! And don't leave anything out."

"Did you bring back any food?" I laughed. Only Thomas would worry about food when something big was happening. Luckily I had expected it, so I tossed him a donut that I had picked up on the way back. He got the biggest grin on his face. You'd have thought Christmas came early.

"Ok, I'll try to answer all of your questions. Let's just take seats, and stay quiet until I finish my story, ok?" Everyone sat down and looked at me expectantly. It was the kind of look I expected from kindergarteners at story time. I managed to stifle the laugh that I almost let out from that thought. I managed to get through my story without any interruptions, which surprised me. When I finished, they all let out whoops and cheers. Kristina came over and hugged me.

"Congratulations, girl. I knew it would work out, in the end."

"Thanks, Kristina. And it was all possible because of you. You kept me going when I wanted to quit."

"What are best friends for?" I sat down between her and Thomas. Cooper was passing around cups of root beer, though he poured a special glass of milk for Alex. He then stood in front of us all.

"I'd like to propose a toast. To the newly reformed Natalina. May you have learned from your mistakes, and stay together like you're destined to be." He said, and he raised a glass, repeating, "To Natalina." Everyone did the same, which got me smiling. I didn't realize how much the band wanted us together. I had just sipped my root beer when my phone rang. Everyone looked at me as I answered.

"Hello?"

"Rosalina Tai?"

"Speaking."

"This is Doctor Michael, the main doctor for Nat Wolff."

"Is he ok?"

"I'm afraid not. He just took a turn towards the worst. He's being moved to intensive care now. I hate to get you worried, but in my professional opinion, he doesn't have much longer. At this point, I would feel safe in saying that he needs a miracle to pull through."


	15. Nothing Lasts Forever

I didn't know what to do. I managed to thank the doctor and hang up the phone without incident. Then I dropped the phone. Everyone was still looking at me, expecting an explanation. I couldn't do it, though. If I said it, it would be like accepting that it was true. I couldn't lose Nat, I just couldn't. I got up and left, heading for the hospital. I had to see him. I had to know that he would be ok.

When I got there, I asked what room Nat was in. They gave me the room number, and I went in. He was hooked up to so many machines, it was almost hard to believe he was under there. But he was. He lifted an arm and waved. I felt myself starting to cry, but I wiped the tears away. He strained to grab his notebook and pencil. He couldn't get them, though. I handed them to him.

_Don't cry, Rosalina. It'll be ok._

"How can you say that, Nat? The doctor called and told me…"

_Nothing lasts forever, Rosalina. Yes, it may be a little early for me, but it had to happen sooner or later._

"Nat, you can't die. I don't know what I'll do without you."

_You'll love and you'll live. Promise me that, should this be the end for me, promise me you'll love again._ I shook my head.

"I can't, Nat. There'll never be another guy like you. Nobody else would be a good enough man to put up with all the crap I've put you through.

_You're being too hard on yourself. You made mistakes. I have, too. Nobody's perfect, Rosalina. All we can do is own up to our mistakes, and put them behind us. I've put our mistakes behind me; can you put them behind you?_ At this point I broke down again. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. But here was more proof that I didn't deserve Nat. I nodded, though.

"For you, Nat, I could do anything. I love you."

_ I love you, too. How are Thomas and David towards you?_

"They're still mad. Not as mad as they were, after all we've been through this tour, but they're still mad."

_Give them this message from me._ He turned the page and wrote something, then ripped it out and folded it in half twice. I slid it into my pocket. _Will the band be coming to visit again?_

"If you want them to, I'm sure they will."

_Could you tell them to, please? I'd like to see them all one more time_.

"I'll go get them, now. Do you want them to come today?"

_Yes, please. I may not have a tomorrow._

"Don't say that, Nat. You're going to have a tomorrow, and many many more besides. I'll be back soon with the guys" I said, standing up. I gave him a quick kiss before leaving. When I got back to the bus, everyone stood up, clearly worried about me.

"Rosalina, where have you been?" Cooper asked.

"I was at the hospital with Nat." I took a deep breath before continuing. "The phone call I got was from his doctor. He took a turn for the worst. He was moved to intensive care. They don't think he has much longer to live. He wants you all to come and see him one last time. Oh, and he gave me this message for Thomas and David." I said, pulling out the note and handing it to them. They both sat reading it. I had guessed that it was about them being mad at me. However, I didn't know exactly what he had written. They both stood up and came over to me.

"Rosalina, I'm sorry I've been such a jerk. I wasn't even that mad. It just hurt me to see how much you hurt Nat." David said. Thomas nodded.

"Yeah, what he said." I pulled them both into a hug.

"It's ok, guys. I deserved what you were giving me. As long as we're good, now."

"Yeah, we're good." They told me, returning the hug. After another minute, we let go.

"Alright guys, we better get going. Nat still wants to see you all." They all stood up and we went. I took them to his room. We all agreed that it would be best to go in one at a time. Kristina went in first. She came out crying, and David went in. Followed by Qaasim, then Thomas, Cooper, and Alex. Alex was in there the longest, and came out crying the hardest. I gave him a tight hug.

"He wants to see you again, Rosalina." Alex said through the sniffles. I gave him a quick squeeze, and went in again. Nat smiled at me. He already had the paper in his hand.

_Will you be ok?_

I wanted to say no. How could I possibly be ok? I needed him. He was the one constant in my life. Even when we fought, I could still go to him. He had always been my best friend, and I had been lucky enough to have him as the love of my life, too.

_I'm not saying it will be easy, Rosalina, but you can do it. You're a strong girl. You've overcome so much already. Just keep an eye on Alex for me. I know dad will do what he can, but Alex doesn't always go to dad. Be there for him being I won't be able to._

"I can do that. Even if you hadn't asked, I would have."

_Thank you. I want you to know, Rosalina, that you've made my life worth living. You were the inspiration behind my music; you were the subject of every love song. As long as you remember those songs, you won't forget me._

"I couldn't forget you, even if I wanted to, Nat. I'm going to miss you so much."

_I'll miss you, too._

I couldn't take anymore. I leaned in and kissed him. I didn't want more words. I was already bawling, I didn't want more hurt. I kissed him, and didn't stop until I felt him stop. I knew he had gone. I went out and joined the band. They all looked at me. I just bowed my head and shook it. Everyone had different reactions. Thomas just shook his head. David looked like he didn't know how to react. Kristina and Alex were hugging and crying. Qaasim was wiping away tears. Cooper was doing some deep breathing. Both Qaasim and Cooper came over to me.

"How are you doing, Rosalina?" Qaasim asked. I just shook my head. I didn't trust my voice, not with how much I was crying.

"I know you probably don't want to talk about it, now, but we do have to make a quick decision about what we want to do about the rest of this tour." Qaasim smacked Cooper.

"Man, this is not the time to be asking her about the tour. Can't you see that…"

"It's ok, Qaasim. Coop's right. We do need to make a decision. I don't know about the rest of the band, but I know that Nat would want us to continue." Everyone looked at me, and I could tell they all agreed.

"But what should we call it? I don't really think that the 'Summer Blast' tour is really a good name for it anymore." Alex said. Again, we all agreed. We all looked at the messages Nat had written for us. Somehow, I knew at least part of what Nat had told them.

"How about the 'Nothing Lasts Forever' finale tour?" I asked. I figured that this would be the end of us as a band, though not as best friends. "Finish this tour in honor of Nat."

"I like it. I'll call ahead and get the publicity stuff changed."

The tour finished as perfectly as could be. Cooper had gotten a call from the police in Bloomington, saying that they had found Patrice, and arrested her for the kidnapping and abuse of Nat. We had showed them Nat's account of what happened, and they immediately started the search. They found her two weeks before the end of our tour. Wade had completely vanished, which was fine with me. Bobby and Michel had left me alone ever since that day in the hospital.

Two weeks later, I arrived home. I sat on my couch, waiting for my dad to get home. Someone knocked at the door. I went to answer it, and it was Cooper.

"Hey, Coop."

"Hey Rosalina. I brought you something special. I figured you would like it." He handed me a shirt. I opened it. It was one of our remade tour shirts. The front had a picture of the band. Across the top in big letters was the name "The 'Nothing Lasts Forever' finale tour" Below the picture was a list of all of the cities we played in. I turned the shirt around to see that it was different. On the back was a picture of Nat and I. Above the picture, it said "Well, almost nothing." Below the picture was Natalina – Aug. 22, 2008 – Forever.

"It's one of a kind. Special just for you." I hugged Cooper.

"Thanks, Coop. I love it."

"You gonna be ok?" he asked. I nodded.

"Eventually."

**Ok, so I've got one more chapter, just to tie up some loose ends and such. Also, I need some help. I want to do a songfic next, but really don't know what song to do. Any ideas from you guys?**


	16. Thank you, Alex

**Just to let you guys know, this is still the story that was originally Operation Heartmend. As it developed, I just felt that that name no longer really suited what was going on, so I changed it to Nothing Lasts Forever. Sorry for any confusion.**

* * *

I leaned back, letting out a sigh of content as my little 10 year old daughter climbed up onto my lap. It had taken me years to finally be able to love someone who wasn't Nat, though I fully admitted that I never have been nor ever will be in love with Sam the way I was in love with Nat. I still loved him, just not as much as Nat. He accepted this. He knew the story about what happened. Even now, as I sat at 50, not a day went by that I didn't think of Nat, and the life we were supposed to live together. I even still had that shirt that Cooper had given me.

"Momma, why do you look sad?"

"I'm just thinking of someone I lost a long time ago, darling." My fourteen year old son entered the room.

"Who is it, mom? You always mention this mystery person, but you never tell us about them. They must have been important to you."

"He was very important to me. He was my best friend, and my first love. Everyone who knew us thought that we would spend the rest of our lives together." I explained as my son sat down next to me. Sam stood in the doorway. We had agreed I could tell the kids about Nat when I was ready to tell them.

"Wow. So what happened? I mean, you married dad." My son, Nathaniel Alexander (Nat for short), said.

"Don't get me wrong, I love your father, but Nat, the person you were named after, he was special. I guess that you could say he was my true love, if you will."

"What happened to him, momma? Can we meet him?" I smiled at Emilia, or Emmy, and kissed the top of her head. I wiped away a tear that I felt forming.

"No, dear. Unfortunately you can't. He died when I was just sixteen. He was only thirteen. We went through a time when all we could do was fight. Bad things happened to him, and he didn't make it. He died knowing how I truly felt, though."

"That's so romantic! It sounds like a fairytale!" Emilia said, making me laugh. Only she could have that kind of innocence. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Sam started walking towards the door. "I'll get it." I smiled at him. He really was sweet.

"What else about Nat, mom? What was he like? What did he look like?"

"Well, he asked a lot of questions, just like someone else I know." I said, giving my son a look. He laughed. "But he was sweet, caring, and the best friend a girl could ask for. He was the leader of an old band that I was part of, the Naked Brothers Band. He wrote a lot of songs about me. One night, after a fight, he actually got the band together, came to my house, and serenaded me with a new song he had just written for me. We were pretty close to the same height, though he was two years younger than me."

"And not nearly as good looking as me." Someone said. I looked up.

"Oh my God! Alex!" I slid Emmy off my lap and got up, giving Alex a hug. I hadn't seen him in years.

"How's it hanging, Rosalina? Been a long time."

"Well, considering you went off to work on your music career and vanished off the map. Not even a phone call to tell me how things are going!"

"I'm sorry! I got a little busy. So these are your two kids, huh?"

"Yep, this is Emilia." I said, pointing to my daughter. She got up and extended a hand. Alex leaned down and shook it.

"How do you do, mister?"

"I'm pretty good, Emilia, but please, call me Uncle Alex." He looked at me. "Uncle Alex is ok, right?"

"Of course. You were as good as a brother to me. You even said so yourself." We laughed. Emmy smiled.

"I'll call you Uncle Alex if you call me Emmy."

"I can do that. And who is this dashing young man?" He said, looking at my son. He got up and extended a hand as well.

"Nat, sir." Alex raised his eyebrows and looked at me as he shook my son's hand.

"Even all these years later, you still love him, don't you?"

"I always have and always will, Alex. Nat meant the world to me."

"Well, then you may appreciate what I've come to bring you. I'm finally getting a chance to settle down, so I've had some time to clean up and do some other work, besides music. You remember Juanita, right?"

"Yeah! How is she?"

"We're finally setting a date for the wedding. I kept promising her that it would happen, but eight years is a long time to wait. I felt horrible, but the music kept me moving. Now I can finally settle down and give her everything I promised her."

"I'm glad to hear things are going well for you. You look great, too." I said. He clearly hadn't been running himself thin while doing his music stuff. It looked like he had even found time to work out and keep in shape.

"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself? What have you been doing?"

"Oh, this and that. Spent a lot of time writing articles for the New York Times. Now I'm pretty much a stay at home mom."

"They look like they need someone to keep an eye on them. They look like two little rebels."

"They're anything but. They're two little angels. Now, what were you saying about bringing something?"

"Oh, right." He said, pulling two envelopes out of his pocket. He handed me one.

"What is this?" I asked. He laughed.

"You'll find out if you open it." I did. Inside were two pictures. The first one was of Nat and I when we were really young. I remembered Alex telling me about this picture. Nat and I were holding hands. It was taken around the time that the Silver Boulders were starting to gain popularity.

"We were so little." I said. I looked at the other picture. It was one of the last ones taken of Nat and I. We were at the premiere of the movie. We had just made up again, after admitting we still loved each other. Someone had gotten a picture of us sharing a kiss. I smiled. I didn't even know this picture existed, but I'm glad it did.

"Thank you so much, Alex. This means a lot."

"I figured those would be better kept by you. I don't need pictures of you and Nat. Bad enough I had to see it when we were a band." I gave him a little shove. He handed me the other envelope. I opened it, and out fell a couple of discs.

"Discs?"

"Containing a copy off all the documentary footage from when we were the Naked Brothers Band. At least as far as that one No School's Fools Day where Cooper got us all. Oh, and when we were the Silver Boulders, too. That had a huge part in the creation of the NBB"

"Alex, I can't take these. You probably want them."

"I told you, those are copies. I still have the originals, and they're copied onto my computer."

"Alex, I don't know how I can ever thank you for all this."

"There's no need, Rosalina. I know Nat would have wanted you to be happy, and I know that those will help." I hugged him and he hugged back. For a second, it felt just like the old days, back when were just kids in the Naked Brothers Band.

"Well, I better get back to Juanita. We aren't living too far, now, so I'll definitely be dropping by more often, if that's ok with you."

"As long as Sam's ok with it." We both looked at him. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Who am I to keep friends apart? You're welcome here any time, Alex. The same goes for your fiancé."

"Thanks, Sam. See you guys around."

"Bye, Alex. And thanks again for all this." I said as I hugged him one more time. When he left, Emmy and Nat were asking if we could watch the footage. I laughed and said ok. We put them into the Blu-Ray player and got ourselves comfortable. As it started playing, I could have sworn for just a second I felt Nat near. Just a slight whiff of him, that was all. It was gone as soon as it came. I wrapped my arms around my kids, and knew that, finally, I would be ok.

I would finally be able to be whole, now that my memories of Nat could be preserved forever.

Maybe some things did last forever.


End file.
